Rod belts of this type, as described in DE 18 34 273 U, DE 295 17 673 U1, DE 296 08 628 U1, and DE 195 20 927 A1, for example, have been part of the prior art for quite some time. In these rod belts, the length of the fastening areas of the rods essentially corresponds to the width of the belts, whereby the fastening areas do not protrude, or do not protrude significantly, beyond the edges of the belts when the rods are installed. The rods are fastened to the belts by rivets or similar fastening means. For this purpose, for the fastening means corresponding holes are provided in the fastening areas of the rods, which are aligned with holes in the belts.
U.S. Pat. No. 705,528 A discloses a rod belt conveyor in which the rods are not directly connected to the belts, but instead are fastened to clips which have one or two thin tabs that are riveted to the belts, with protective strips made of flexible material inserted in between. The protective strips, which are wider than the tabs, are intended to prevent the metal of the tabs from damaging the belts when they pass over deflection rollers. The clips also have a fastening area for the rods which adjoins the tabs and protrudes beyond the inner edge of the belts.
It is known to provide the rod belts with further functional elements in addition to the rods. Thus, lateral delimiting fingers are described in EP 1 977 984 A1, which are intended to prevent conveyed material from falling from the rod belt conveyor. These delimiting fingers are directly connected to the belts. For this purpose, the delimiting fingers have support tabs which are placed on the belts from above and riveted thereto. This requires that the belts be provided with additional fastening holes. This is disadvantageous, since the additional fastening holes represent a weakening of the belts.
To avoid this disadvantage, it is known to make use of the fastening points of the rods, which are necessary anyway, for fastening the additional functional elements. Additional fastening holes in the belts may thus be avoided. However, this type of fastening may be used only when approximately equal fastening forces are required for the rods and for the additional functional elements. Greatly different fastening forces would result in one of the elements being fastened too tightly or too loosely to the belts. This is also particularly disadvantageous when the outer side of the belt must travel over idler rollers when the conveyor belt is returning.